Ride #5

Sunday was our fifth ride of the year and although it both started and ended well, there was a bunch of nastiness in the middle. It was also a lesson in frustration, due to a variety of circumstances. 

I spent the first 45 minutes I was at the barn trying to get the Pixem to work but was unsuccessful. The whole beacon BS is beginning to piss me off. I will read through the entirety of the manual and see if I can figure out why I am having so much trouble. I finally gave it up, saddled my poneh and got on. Flambé and Kat were in the area and I was vastly amused at Ashke’s antics. He wanted to slow down and wait for her, so he could follow her around the arena.

He’s a cute shithead

We walked a couple of loops and then got into a nice forward trot. This is the gait that the chiropractor recommended to loosen and strengthen his SI and hip area. Ashke was nicely forward and moving easily. We did two big circles in each direction and then stopped as the rest of the riders came into the arena. Amanda led in Laz, her FEI almost Grand Prix horse and I quipped “look, its the King of the Stable”.

And the wheels fell off.

I went from a willing and easily forward horse to a pissed off, spooking, shithead. He wouldn’t trot for the life of him. He started spooking violently at the open door, the mounting block, the ground poles, dark spots on the ground. HE.REFUSED.TO.TROT. He trantered. He threw a little fit and fell into it. I ended up riding him with one hand, with my long western rein held in the other, which I flicked  back against his hip to keep him from bolting sideways away from the pile of poles in the middle of the arena. I wasn’t beating him, just touching him with it (think dressage whip) to keep him from going sideways. He tried to bolt every time we walked past either the poles or the open door to the stable area. His whole body was tight and there was no relaxation.

I did what I typically do to manage the tension, not sure why my willing and relaxed horse now felt half a second away from a complete explosion. We tried trotting serpentines, leg yields, and half pass. He refused to do any of it. There was no lateral movement. When I asked for a leg yield I got a firm fuck you and attempted canter. I yelled and swatted my hand against his neck (this is usually enough to reset his attitude from nope to yep), but it just made him more tense. I tried leg yield again and he went totally sideways, with his head up, stiff and belligerent, in a sidepass motion, rather than the forward, easy leg yield I usually get. His haunches were every where. It was a complete FUBAR. And it was all him.

I finally asked for the canter serpentine with walk transitions and he was a little bit better. The canter helped him move forward and got some of the kinks out We worked on the canter half-pass and did a couple of those before finally allowing a flying change, He was still be a reactive shit, but he was a little more willing to listen and work with me. 

Flambé was willing to take some video of the end of our ride

Amanda’s mom talked to me about slowing down myself mentally, which is exactly what I need to do to organize myself before asking for the change,

Our canter reset from the changes, so that he remembers he has a mind

The second video was the last of our ride. We ended on what I felt was a good note and we lived to ride another day, I dismounted and stood there talking to the other people in the arena. I made the comment that I didn’t understand why he was being such a putz and Amanda said “its because of Laz”.

Skeptical horse is still skeptical

My mouth dropped open and I turned to him in astonishment. Really? That was it? OMG, horse. Amanda said that Laz and he are fighting for dominance in the stable and that they just flat out don’t like each other. Flambé who was standing there talking with us remarked that he was fine up until that point. I cuddled Ashke’s head into my arms and whispered sweet nothings in his ears. I told him there was no one else for me and that I loved him. Silly horse. He really did react like a five year old who had been told he was no longer your favorite. 

I need to remember to keep my mouth shut and not say shit like that in his hearing. And to ask his permission to help other riders with their horses so he doesn’t get jelly. Jay-sus!